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hey there,

i class myself as a hobbyist in the recording field- i enjoy what i get up to and have a selection of frankly cheap mics/desk/8 track/digital gear that i dig getting pleasing noises out of. i've read a lot of stuff on the qualities of old mics and was wondering , given the benfits of e-bay whether getting hold of old vintage mics is worth while? are they really that groovey? are they as good as a pair of headphones through a four track?

Vintage mics don't really tend to sell cheap on Ebay any more.

They did, but not now. I remember when you could pick up Beyer ribbons for around £50.

Don't buy a mic just because of its age. Buy one that matches the criteria which you want.

Some vintage mics are better in some respects, but for instance, they are often worse in terms of noise level. There are a few classics which have never been re-issued which are renowned for their sound, but the prices tend to sky-rocket for these sorts of items.

I'd also be careful buying vintage stuff if you are not prepared to maintain it - ofrten they can require attention which in some cases proves difficult. Old connectors can be hard to get and also some old power supplies.

For good vintage mics on a budget, I'd perhaps recommend the Gefell / RFT PM750 or PM860 models which look like hand grenades. Most require a 12V supply unless they are converted. Other than that, The Beyer Soundstar is a nice alternative to the MD421 with more midrange, but don't pay more than £50 for it. Early white MD421s are nice and quite versatile.

For a general-purpose / instrument mic, I'd recommend getting a Beyer M201. It is a safe buy, and sounds great on a variety of sources (it sounds a little more like a condenser than a dynamic). They are not vintage.

Have you heard the Aberdonian version of The Rolling Stone's "Hey, you, get off of my cloud"?

It was released as "Hey, MacLeod, get off of my ewe".

Rod,

A friend of mine was talking about about an RFT PM 750 recently. Do you know much about these? All I have found on the internet is really barebones info.

Do they sound any good?

Cheers

Phillip

Hey Phillip,

Yeah, the PM750s are quite cool. They are basically the same as the Gefell MV692 (I think Electrical have these or something similar under the Neumann name...) with the exception of having no bass-cut or pad. The PM860 appears to be the same as the MV692 as it has the same features and even says "MV692" on the PCB.

Have a look in Klaus Heyne's mic lab forum (search Google for it) and then search for MV692.

The mics accept the MV* series of capsules, and there are quite a few, some of which are nickel diaphragm.

Mike T.A.R has or had some of these and probably knows them quite well. He mentioned that they were good on some acoustic guitar which is very true. The standard cardioid capsule has a nice HF boost which suits stringed instruments. I've not tried it on drums or piano yet which I look forward to doing.

You should be able to pick up a PM750 for around $140 from Germany without a power supply. It is possible (and easy) to convert the mics for 48V operation, but I got a couple of Schoeps 12V power supplies instead.

Mr P wrote:Rod,

A friend of mine was talking about about an RFT PM 750 recently. Do you know much about these? All I have found on the internet is really barebones info.

Do they sound any good?

RFT Gefell PM750 (EUR 99,00 Buy It Now):

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Neumann-Gefell-PM ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Neumann-Gefell-PM ... dZViewItem

hello.

the pm750 is indeed pretty cool. i had 2 of them, but now only have one. I eventually got mine modified with XLR output and also to work with phantom power. The m94 capsule that came stock on the pm750 is very birght. It sounds great on acoustic gtrs. I recently replaced the original capsule with an M70 capsule which is also cardiod, but has a much smoother high freq response which I find makes it a much more verstaile microphone. It blew mind on a snare drum the other day.

these are really great and cheap micrpohones.

best,
mike

Rodabod wrote:RFT Gefell PM750 (EUR 99,00 Buy It Now):

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Neumann-Gefell-PM ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Neumann-Gefell-PM ... dZViewItem

For what kind of use would you use this mic?

And do you have a link on how to do the phantom power mod on it?

Thanks

The mic is particulary nice sounding on acoustics. It is a bright condensor, and sounds good in many of the applications that other bright conensors usually sound good. Snare, OH, electric gtr amp, etc.

THe company that modded my mics was called power techniks. This was about 4 years ago, I'm not sure if they still exist or still do this modification. I found them aftrer extensive searching on the internet. The did a remarkable job though.

the old email i have from them is: post@powertechnik.com it may still work. They are in Germany,

good luck

Thanks
I've just e-mailed them!

jib wrote:And do you have a link on how to do the phantom power mod on it?

This should help:

http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewto ... 92&start=0

For a good 48V supply, you can just replace a couple of components.